Couple quick questions about Western Express

The recruiter might be a 3rd party recruiter and only has a list of the basic questions & answers.
Hopefully a current driver will answer those questions for you.

Did it actually snow there in Las Vegas this week? I'm out of town right now and don't know.

 

I'll answer both of these. Bendix is on our older flatbed trucks below about 2500 and on a lot of our Van trucks. I drove truck 2426 and 1879 and both had Bendix which was horrible. Once my truck slammed on it's breaks because of a potato chip bag blowing across the road. Had this been an icy day, I would have been screwed.

As to chaining, they will lie. The company says that if the weather requires chaining the drivers shouldn't drive. This is dishonest as our DMs will still tell us to man up and drive with chains.

I know who your recruiter is and I'm sure she is playing games with you just like they all do over in that cozy trailer. If you suspect western is lying, if you suspect they aren't they still are lying, that's all they do.

 

Chinatown, you have a reputation as a know-it-all when it comes to companies both good and bad so I'll try to answer this for you so that you can continue to do an awesome job assisting people on this forum in making wise decisions on where they work.

Western Express has almost all their operations taking place in trailers off to the west of the main brick terminal building. We have a trailer next to the red restaurant trailer filled to the brim with recruiters. These people are pretty detached from the rest of the operations from what I have seen and after having chatted with some I know that they are given commissions and bonuses for their hires. When a company our size has over 16 recruiters working full time, you know something is off.

Also, the female recruiters love walking across the yard in tight outfits and swinging their hips and driving drivers and students crazy there. I don't have a problem with it but it does raise an eyebrow with me.

 

@Happyfeet Thanks for the info. I havent seen the terminal but have an idea about where it is. The company I worked for shut their terminal down and rented office space at the Elite Tank Wash on Centennial Blvd about a half block from the Pilot Truck Stop. Again, thanks for the update.
Does Western still cut some slack on shady MVR's and criminal records?

 

Thanks for the info.
I didn't really know to ask a company about the collison mitigation systems, but now I do. As for chaining up, that's not a big deal, I've seen a lot of good tips on this forum and will gladly put them on or sit it out til the weather gets better, whichever the company prefers, but I do have a question for you Jeremy. My brother and I just got our cdl A about a week ago and are about to start our journey into the trucking world. You sound knowledgeable when it comes to talking to the recruiters and you said you''ve been in the industry over 7 years so let me ask you this, my brother and I plan on team driving and are about to start talking to recruiters, in your opinion what good quality questions should we be asking? I know a couple general like cpm, insurance, layover, prepass, now thanks to you the collision mitigation system, driver facing camera, and I'm sure I'm missing a few but I just know how important it is to stay with the first company you go with to keep your dac clean. Sorry for the long post but I think any input from you or China would be greatly helpful and very much appreciated. Thanks in advance and Safe Travels!

 

I think the place you speak of is further down Centennial near the Yellow/Roadway drop yard. The Pilot truck stop there is like our second terminal since it is full of drivers that will park their truck there rather than enter the gates of our main terminal and waste a day trying to get back out.

As far as records go, of course, the more screwed up the better.

"Western Express terminals. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."
―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Luke Skywalker
Western Express prides itself as being a "second chance" company. This actually means that they are a bottom feeder with predatory hiring practices. I met one guy at orientation that had just gotten out of the joint from a 6 year stint for making meth. We hire every ghetto gangbanger off the street, and there are tons of problems because of it. I would be less hostile to their practices if they were to hire people who had made a mistake or had a few points on their DAC, but WE hires repeat offenders of violent crimes as well as some of the most stupid trash available. You know its bad when people tell you that prison etiquette applies around the main pavilion. Now it appears that they found a new source of filth in the middle eastern and Somalian immigrants they are helping to get green cards.

As such our CSA score suffers. I have met drivers that refuse to fix burned out lights and tell me; "It not yo bidness" when I take pictures to send in to safety. Recently I met a driver that didn't know what a sidewall or even break drum was. I can name names of people who witnessed this. I also recently tried to defend myself in an argument with other company drivers that a coolant leak due to a bad EGR cooler was not going to prouce toxic fumes in the cab.

 

"Western Express prides itself as being a "second chance" company. This actually means that they are a bottom feeder with predatory hiring practices."
Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
It appears to me at least, most of the Western Express drivers either can't figure out how to park a trailer or are too ###### lazy to do so as they are often parked along access lanes in truck stops. This is not saying that ALL of them can't drive but it seems that, from personal observation, most seem not to have very good skills.
I would avoid them.

 

I knew Wayne Wise, now deceased, the man that started WE. I worked for him when he owned ExpressCo, another flatbed company no longer in operation.Majority of the drivers were ex-cons.That was a wild bunch. Wayne Wise was actually a good guy to work for though back then; guess WE went bad after he passed away.Back then there was lots of freight going to California and lumber loads coming back to the East Coast.They watched us real close entering California because they knew we ran dirty; could look at our haggard faces and tell not much time in the sleeper berth. For the most part those days are over with and that's a good thing.
Thanks for filling me in on how it is today.